ACADEMICAL DEGREES. &c. 



College of St Same* 



^catemttxl degrees anlr Cities: 



AN ADDRESS 



EIGHTH ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT 



College of St, Sames, JJttr,, 

■- 

JULY 27th, 1854, 



W J. B. KERFOOT, D. D., RECTOR 



THE CHARTER OF THE COLLEGE, A REGISTER OF THE TRUSTEES, THE STATUTE 

ENTITLED "OF DEGREES," AND A REGISTER OF THE DEGREES 

GIVEN FROM 1811 TO 185*. 



1854 









z h£ 




Pudney & Russell, Printers, 
No. 79 John-street, New-York. 



NEW YORK PUBL. LIBR, 
itt &JLQOAHQ&. 



ADDRESS. 



We have just been engaged in our annual ceremony of 
conferring- academical degrees. Is this a mere ceremony ? 
A form without meaning or substance ? We do not so regard 
it ; and I may venture to say that no one present felt it to be 
entirely an unmeaning form, though, no doubt, some such 
thought may have crossed the minds of more than one here 
to-day. For this and some similar reasons, I have thought it 
well to say something now on the subject of "Academical 
Degrees and Titles." 

Are these then, after all, only gewgaws, unbecoming the 
practical reality of our generation ? What is the meaning and 
what the use of degrees and titles ? Much or none, as the 
case may be. But, whether much or none be their value, any 
effort to abolish titles is all in vain. The use of them is a 
necessity of our nature and of our circumstances. Men cannot 
and will not do without them. No men ever really abolish 
titles among themselves, though they often make it a point of 
pride or of conscience not to adopt those sanctioned by 
ordinary use. Practical, sensible men, on the other hand, do 
not overvalue titles ; they try to make them real and to confer 
them with some due consideration to merit and appropriate- 
ness. They aim to control, not to abolish what men must and 
will have and use. 

" But this" (some one i§ saying) " is only an American 
feeling." Certainly not. It is true, Americans love titles ; 
and since the national Constitution cuts us off from all hopes of 
titles of nobility, human nature does exact due satisfaction by 



multiplying other titles among us ; so that a credulous for- 
eigner might take us to be a nation made up almost entirely 
of men distinguished for prowess in war, by high offices and 
dignity in the State, or by pre-eminence in learning or science. 
We carry it too far. So be it. Abolish the thing entirely — 
we cannot and ought not. 

Nor perhaps, after all, do we Americans carry title-giving 
so much farther than other nations. There is as much of it 
probably, only of a somewhat different appearance, across the 
Atlantic. But hereditary titles, when, as in our grave and sober- 
minded motherland of England, not too numerous, come to sit 
with an ease and dignity very edifying to people who must 
each earn their own title, and then learn to wear it quietly. 
And, after all, may not an American esquire or judge, or 
colonel or general, guiding his plough over his own wide acres, 
or posting his books in his counting-room, be a more dignified 
personage than the petty nobleman of some parts of Europe, 
too proud to do any work, and too poor to live without it ? 

But our concern now is with Academical Titles. They will 
not, as they should not, be abolished. What we ought to do 
is — learn their true nature and value, and aim to make them 
real by conferring them worthily. 

Some remarks on the origin, history, and right sources of 
such degrees may properly precede an explanation of their 
meaning and value.* 

The origin of academical degrees and titles is uncertain, as 
respects both date and locality. It is probable that they began 
in the eleventh or twelfth century, when universities were first 
fully organized ; and it is believed that they were first con- 
ferred in the University of Paris, which many suppose was 
the first real university, beginning its operations near the end 
of the eleventh century, and completing its organization early 

* See Aylifle's "Ancient and Present £tate of the University of Oxford," 
vol. 2, pp. 117, &c., and 195, &c. Encyclop. Metropol., Articles "University," 
" Degrees," &c. ; and the Statutes of the Colleges of the English Universities ; 
Huber's History of these Universities, &c. A pretty full collection of works of 
the kind has been made for the Library of the College of St. James. 



in the thirteenth. Oxford, however, with great reason disputes 
the palm of antiquity with Paris, for it is known that before 
the middle year of the eleventh century (A.D. 1041) instructions 
were begun there, and that in the first year of the thirteenth 
century the school at Oxford was legally styled an University. 
With the universities began the titles they conferred. As 
we would suppose, these titles were not at first expressive of 
any permanent rank, but of the office and dignity which the 
person might at the time be holding but which with the title 
he might lay aside. The scholar, of a certain high measure of 
attainment, was expected to become a Teacher or Master ; and 
as such he was called Master, or Doctor, or — what had the same 
meaning as either — Professor. In course of time, and as 
things became more systematized, the title of Master was 
restricted to the Teacher in the Faculty of Arts — -that is, (as 
shall be presently shown,) in the studies answering to what we 
now call Collegiate, as distinguished from those more advanced 
and which we term Professional. The Teacher of Law, Medi- 
cine, or Theology, appropriated the title of Doctor. Both 
" Master" and " Doctor," therefore, indicated office and work, 
not mere rank. But when the rank of Academical " Bachelor" 
came into being, then the other titles and ranks were made 
definite and progressive, and were named steps and degrees, to 
which scholars were admitted on certain well-defined terms as 
to time and attainments. This fixed distinction was, however, 
reached very rapidly ; for the three chief grades in degrees 
now in use, were recognized with very much their present 
meaning before the middle of the thirteenth century. " Ba- 
chelor," in all the Faculties ; " Licentiate" (i. e., one licensed to 
teach), in other words, " Master" in the Faculty of Arts ; and 
Doctor, in the three more advanced Faculties, have meant the 
same thing, be it much or little, for more than six centuries. 
Human nature did not first develope its love of titles in America. 
So much for the origin of academical titles. 

An interesting and a profitable question is, Whence and 
ivhose is the right to confer them ? The American, and pro- 
bably now the-general European answer to this question, would 



be not altogether the correct one. The State, it is now 
claimed, is the rightful and only source of such a power. 
This is a mistake, and one of more than seeming importance ; 
for it denies a great principle, which, each year makes it more 
evident, Christians of every denomination must contend for 
strenuously. History, too, is clearly against any such exclusive 
claim of the civil authority. Universities hold, of course, their 
property and their pecuniary trusts under corporate powers 
given by the State. All such powers, when given, should be 
guarded most carefully against the abuses to which history 
shows that they are liable. Besides, the State has a most 
direct interest, and therefore necessarily a large control, in the 
work of Education. This interest and control must and 
ought to be greater now than six or seven centuries ago. But 
then, the work of Education was done by the Church — by men 
whom she approved and commissioned. Their work was 
under her control and supervision. Its results were tested by 
her standards, and certified or rejected by her decree. Make 
all due allowance — and it must be a liberal one in this as in all 
other points where the Church met the State in the few centu- 
ries just preceding the Reformation — make all due allowance 
for the encroachment of the ecclesiastical on the civil author- 
ity, and still the rightful authority of the Church — the neces- 
sary and inalienable authority of Christianity in the work of 
Education, in the universities and schools of every grade, was 
originally far higher than the theories now popular would make 
it to be. Religious and civil control and discretion worked 
conjointly from the first, as in fact they do now in Europe, and 
in tliis country, too, in spite of any theories to the contrary. Sta- 
tutes decreeing the severance of religion and education become 
dead letters, and are so all over our land now. The men that 
pass such laws combine to nullify their operation. Christian 
hearts reject them, and a merciful Providence scatters them to 
the wind — practically. 

Thus, the Church always was, and ever must be, the chief 
teacher of the young. She has too a duty, and therefore a 
right, to see that higher science is hallowed by its teachers with 



saving influences. Therefore the CJiurch — (and I now use the 
term only to express Christian organization maintaining and 
teaching the essentials of the faith in our land) — the Church 
always was, and rightfully is now, the joint source of academical 
ranks and titles. In Divinity she ought to be the only source. 
In the other Faculties, the civil authority may share, but 
ought not — and, as we all know, practically in most colleges — 
does not engross the power and its exercise. The earliest dis- 
tinction drawn, so far as we now know, between the various 
academical titles, was made by the ecclesiastical authority ; and 
legislate as men may, the last of such titles among men shall 
bear with it in some shape the Church's sanction. I do not 
mean that she is to engross education ; or that the State has 
nothing to do but to furnish corporate powers, and, if she will, 
some money to schools of learning. The more I see and 
know, the more heartily do I acquiesce in the public school 
system as established in many of our States. It is not only 
the best thing practicable, but it is a good thing ; and Christ- 
ianity can accept and hallow it. But the State ought not and 
cannot thrust the Church aside as having no duty — no right — 
no control in the work — no share in the authority to conduct 
it, and to stamp its results with due marks of honor. Where- 
ever academical titles are still of value in procuring admission 
to civil grades and to offices and callings of trust, there is 
much reason in this claim in behalf of the State. But other- 
wise, the State has little direct concern, while the Church has 
most intimate concern in the grade and kind of scholarship so 
honored. As regards the point of due discretion in the distri- 
bution of such honors, who ever would dream that the legisla- 
tures of any of our States would be so likely as the representa- 
tive bodies of any respectable Christian name in those States, 
to select the proper men to control colleges and their gifts of 
honor? Literature and science would not suffer by a guard- 
ianship more avowedly religious, while sound morality and 
sober belief would more certainly hallow the pursuits and 
attainments of the scholar ; and the true principle would gain 
a bolder and more effective enunciation — that education is a 



8 

thing not merely secular, but essentially religious ; and the 
futile as well as infidel enactment which in some of our States 
— our own State of Maryland,* thank God, is not one of the 
number — forbids any religious test or qualification being re- 
quired of the instructor of truth, would disappear from the 
statute-books, where it now* lies — as it ought to lie — a dead 
letter; dead — save that it helps to justify skepticism in its 
efforts against godly teaching. 

Of course, as Churchmen heartily recognizing our ecclesias- 
tical organization and its authority as Divine, we would at once 
find in the Bishop of each diocese the chief teacher, and the 
prime source of academical degrees ; and in our College here 
w T e aim to blend this authority with that derived from civil 
sources, in giying any degree. Our Divinity degrees we 
declare to be of strictly ecclesiastical origin : recognized and 
decreed, indeed, by the civil corporation, but emanating from 
the Bishop, and conferred by him in person or by his special 
commission.! 

Such views on this topic are neither recent nor peculiar. I 
have in my possession a letter from the late very learned Dr. 
Jarvis — to whom I wrote several years since for aid and advice 
when we were drafting our statutes — asserting such principles 
very strongly. Years before that I knew that he deemed it a 
question of time and expediency — not of principle — as to the 

*In Maryland, any body of Christians desiring to establish and control a col- 
lege of their own, can obtain a charter expressly recognizing and permanently 
guaranteeing the denominational character of the college. This is as it ought to 
be under every government. To deny such charters is not to maintain religious 
liberty and equality, but to overthrow both. It is sheer infidelity, under shallow 
pretences, forbidding men to serve their God and teach His truth, each according 
to his own conscience. The result is that the godless law is, by all men, and by 
open, universal consent and co-operation, kept in its letter and broken in its whole 
meaning. What good end the sham serves it is hard to imagine. The folly of 
such legislation is made transparent in the case of every college, whose govern- 
ment chooses to give it any distinctive religious character. 

t See the Statute "Of Degrees" appended. In the conferring of degrees, 
those in Divinity are announced last, and in these words : — "Eadem auctoritate," 
(scil. Curatorum) — " et auctoritate atque in nomine Episcopi Marisc-Terrensis," 
&c., &c. 



Church in each diocese claiming and using the power to confer 
academical degrees. In the letter referred to, Dr. Jarvis spoke 
of the necessity of our returning, in the organization of our 
colleges, " to the great principles of the Catholic Church, so 
disfigured as they have been by the combined influence of 
Popery, Puritanism, and the Erastian spirit which came into 
England at the Reformation, and subsequently. Popery with- 
drew the universities from their allegiance to their Bishop ; 
Puritanism substituted for Episcopacy a government of self- 
called presbyters ; Erastianism gave to the laity, as civil gover- 
nors, power over the whole."* 

* The reader will be glad to have all that the letter says on this point. It is 
dated Middletown, October 4, 1848, and says : " I duly received your favor of 
September 2Gth, which greatly interests me ; and I have not answered it sooner 
because of engagements from which I am just freed, and which would not have 
allowed more than a mere acknowledgment. 

" We are just occupied in arranging a new code of statutes for Trinity College. 
The President was with me the 23d of September, and carried with him to Hart- 
ford such materials as I could then give him for the work. We want to reorgan- 
ize the college on the great principles of the Catholic Church, so disfigured as 
they have been by the combined influence of Popery, Puritanism, and the Erastian 
spirit which came into England at the Reformation, and subsequently. Popery 
withdrew the universities from their allegiance to their Bishop ; Puritanism sub. 
stituted for Episcopacy a government of self-called Presbyters ; Erastianism gave 
to the laity, as civil governors, power over the whole. In the preparations made 
by Bishop Seabury for the education of youth in his diocese, he had in view the 
great principles of the Catholic Church, on which all schemes of instruction were 
originally founded. Every man who comes into the world should be brought into 
the Church, and there educated for time and eternity. The great commission 
from the Head of the Church gives to the successors of the Apostles the inalien- 
able right of teaching. Human legislators cannot give, and ought not to take 
away, this right. The rest comes within the rules of discipline. There should 
be parish schools in which the rector, as the Bishop's representative in his more 
limited sphere, takes care of the education of the children in the first principles 
of Christian doctrine. Then there should be in the diocese schools which may 
be connected with missionary operations, and serve as preparatory to the college 
of the diocese. Over that college the Bishop should have rule, and should confer 
the honors. How inconsistent especially is it that a body of lay trustees should 
confer the degree of Doctors in Theology ! The Scottish Bishops will not receive 
the degree of D. D. from a Presbyterian university. Bishop Seabury conferred 
upon his chief presbyters the degree of D. D. I mention these as illustrations of 
the system. It is very desirable that all our Church colleges, as they arise, should 



10 

I quote his letter to show that wisdom and learning like his 
sanctioned views in regard to College organization, which, in 
their main principles, all Christians will soon realize the need 
of avowing and defending. 

Having thus seen the origin and rightful source of Academi- 
cal Degrees, let us inquire what are those degrees, and what 
their relative meaning and value. 

They are conferred in the four chief " Faculties," or old 
divisions of human learning — the Arts, Law, Medicine, and 
Divinity. 

Under the first head — that of "Arts," were formerly in- 
cluded the seVen chief pursuits in what now we would call an 
" undergraduate course. " First, the " Trivium" — Grammar, 
Rhetoric, and Logic ; and then the " Quadrivium" — Arithmetic, 
Music, Geometry, and Astronomy ; making up the seven "Arts," 
which together were included under the Faculty of Arts, and 
the study of which was deemed the proper preparation of 
every educated man for any of the more advanced departments 
of learning ; just what our collegiate course of studies is de- 
signed to be. 

" Law"— the science of the government of men in their 
social relations, by defining and enforcing their duties and 
rights — Law — included the Canon and Civil Law, to either or 
both of which the student might devote his labors, and re- 
ceive a title accordingly. The Canon Law — that of the 

agree in these fundamentals. I shall be very glad if Bishops • 

will model the institutions of their dioceses in accordance with these ; and I 
shall be most happy to lend my aid, if they think proper to confer with me. The 
presidents or rectors (for I like better the name you have adopted), should be con- 
nected with us. One general plan being thus agreed upon, the subordinate de- 
tails may be fitted to the exigencies of each." 

An earlier letter of Dr. Jarvis (about 1840) to the Rector of St. Paul's College, 
New-York, discussed quite fully the topic of the ecclesiastical origin of the 
usual academic degrees, and claimed this right for the Church as still pro- 
perly hers, but deemed its practical assertion at that time premature. The 
writer regrets that he has not been able to recover this letter for publication 
here. It was submitted at the time to the Bishop of New- York and some 
of the prominent clergy of that diocese, and, it is believed, secured their entire 
approval. 



11 

Church — was once not only a distinct, but also a very neces- 
sary part of legal study, and is so yet, even in our own country, 
to a much greater degree than is generally supposed. The 
Civil or Roman Statute Law is the other division. This " Civil 
Law"' in connection with the " Common Law," i. e., the tradi- 
tionary, unenacted law of England and the States born from 
her, excludes the Canon Law from the lawyer's attention and 
study much more in this country than in England, where the 
Ecclesiastical Law, not less than the Civil, has its courts, its 
written codes and its established precedents. 

" Medicine'' — the science of relieving or healing the hurts 
and diseases of our bodies ; and " Divinity" — Scientific The- 
ology — need no explanation. 

The Faculty of Arts was always deemed a necessary intro- 
duction to any of the three higher Faculties : that is, what we 
call a " Collegiate Education" was regarded as an essential 
prerequisite to what we call " the study of a profession." Law, 
Medicine and Divinity were departments of study inaccessible, 
save to those who had careful and complete previous mental 
culture. 

The academical titles have always been as they still are — 
Bachelor, Master and Doctor. In the Arts, Bachelor and 
Master; and in the other three Faculties, Bachelor and Doctor. 
Master and Doctor were (as has been said) at first the titles of 
those who, having been scholars, had become actual teachers. 
They afterwards were used as titles of academical rank, and 
not of duty ; and then, as the title of Master was given only in 
Arts, so that of Doctor was confined to Law, Medicine, and 
Divinity. As these three Faculties were higher than the first, 
so the title of Doctor came to mean more than that of Master. 
The grade and title of Bachelor was invented afterwards to 
mark those who had completed a required course of study in 
the Seven Arts or in any of the other three Faculties, without 
going far enough to become, either in dignity or title, Masters 
or Doctors — that is, Teachers. 

The etymology and real meaning of the term Bachelor is 
hopelessly beyond man's power to decide now. Some derive 



12 

it from the. staff (baculus) with which knights were usually in- 
vested, or from the name of an inferior knight (bas chevalier) ; 
and hence they regard its origin as military. The most gen- 
eral, and perhaps most likely interpretation, derives the term 
from bacca lauri, the berry of the laurel, because, with a chap- 
let of laurel leaves and berries, literally as well as figuratively, 
successful competitors for honors were crowned even so far 
down as to the first establishment of universities. Or as an 
old writer more minutely suggests,* " In laurel, those small 
pillulce are called Bacchse, which this tree buds forth as flowers ; 
and because there is hope from the flower, this term Baccha- 
Lauri is given to young students, in hopes that they will after- 
wards merit the laurel crown." 

Nor was this an honor restricted in good old times to ad- 
vanced years. It may comfort even the youngest of the new 
graduates of to-day to know, that they clearly exceed the age 
demanded by early statutes for the Bachelorship, which was 
but fifteen years and a half ; and that at nineteen years of 
age, their academical ancestors were allowed to become Masters 
— that is, Teachers — in the Arts. Nor, by the way, may they 
value their new title of Bachelor any the less, or feel the less 
secure against the raillery of their young lady-friends when 
they know the fact that, by the best English authority, f not 
only young unmarried gentlemen, but quite as well, young un- 
married ladies may be correctly termed Bachelors in the 
common acceptation of the word ; though any such application 
of the title is a 'perversion of it from the grave use to which, 
in conformity with old law r and custom, we have put it here to- 
day. 

The requisitions as to time of study, and measure of attain- 
ment necessary for the various degrees, have been substantially 
the same in all the chief universities of Europe. In American 
institutions we retain the rules regarding time, but have in 
some respects greatly — necessarily, indeed — modified the 
standard of attainment. 

* Ayliffe's Ant. and Pres. State of Oxford, vol. 2, p. 195. 
t Ben Jonson, as quoted by Richardson. 



13 

Now, as always before, three to four years of undergraduate 
study must precede the Bachelor s degree in Arts ; and three 
years must then elapse before the Master's degree can be 
taken. In Europe these must be three years of study, real or 
supposed, and certain exercises must be performed giving fair 
proof of progress in learning since the first graduation. We 
attempt in our College to do what too few American colleges 
have done — require real, express testimony that the interval be- 
tween the degree of Bachelor and that of Master in Arts has 
been really devoted to literature or science ; and as some addi- 
tional test of this application, a Thesis must be presented by 
the candidate for his second degree. The aim is to make this 
second decree something else than a form, sure to occur three 
years after the former one. 

The German title of Doctor of Philosophy is equivalent in 
meaning and rank to that of Master in Arts.* 

The degrees in the three higher Faculties may next be 
sought. In Law, Medicine and Divinity, those degrees are 
Bachelor and Doctor. In this country the degree of Bachelor 
in Medicine is not in use. 

In Law, the English rule is, that the Bachelorship in the 
Law can be reached only by the Master in Arts of at least two 
years' standing, and the Doctorate in the Law can come not 
less than five years afterwards. The degrees are in Civil Law 
alone (B. C. L. and D. C. L.), or in law of both kinds (Civil 
and Canon) " Utriusque juris" (LL. B., i. e., " Legum Bacca- 
laureus," and LL. D., i. e. " Legum Doctor"). 

In our Law Schools the degree of LL. B. readily may, and. 
often does, precede the degree ofM.A. As an example, the 

* In Music the European Universities give degrees, but they arc rarely con- 
ferred in America. Seven years given to the study and practice of Music, and a 
public performance evincing due science and skill in the art, secure the title of 
Bachelor in Music. Five years later, the Doctorate in Music may be attained on 
similar terms. 

Our college phrase "Commencement" is derived from the use of the Univer- 
sity of Cambridge in England. In Oxford, the corresponding word is "Act." 
As with us, the words signify the public occasion and exercises upon which 
graduates are admitted to rank and privileges in the republic of letters. 



14 

Master's degree has here to-day been conferred on an absent 
graduate of ours, of three years' standing as B. A., who, a 
year since, won with special honors the degree of LL. B. in 
one of our best Law Schools. In this country, for lack of 
more specific honors, the degree of LL. D. is misapplied to 
note excellence in any department of literature or of general 
science, as well as in Civil and Canon Law. In England the 
degree of D. C. L. is conferred much in the same w r ay, as a 
mark of special respect rather than as an acknowledgment of 
excellence in a specified department of learning. 

In Medicine, the English rule requires seven to ten years to 
intervene between the Bachelorship in Arts and the Doctorate 
in Medicine. Our young countrymen accomplish the work in 
two years, and therefore practically with us the degree of 
Doctor in Medicine precedes that of Master in Arts by a year. 
The degree of Bachelor in Medicine is unknown am oner us. 
Our Bachelor in Arts, despising any intermediate steps, be- 
comes (emphatically "per saltwri') Doctor in Medicine with a 
rapidity quite characteristic of our people. 

In Divinity, eleven or twelve years must, by the law of the 
English universities, intervene between the degrees of Master 
in Arts and that of Doctor in Divinity : seven years of which 
time must have passed before the M. A. could attain the 
Bachelorship in Divinity. Here again — and I deeply regret 
that the custom is sanctioned by Institutions belonging to the 
Church ; indeed, the degree of B. D. is not (I believe) in Ameri- 
can use, except in our Church — the Bachelorship in one of the 
three higher Faculties is, contrary to all old rules, allowed to 
precede the degree of Master in Arts, instead of coming not 
less than seven years after it. Abroad, the degree of B.D. 
means special attainments in Theology beyond the mere requisites 
for Holy Orders. And it is to be much regretted that in this 
case as in others, the degrees should be so needlessly confused 
in meaning, and thus lowered in value. If we so elect, we can 
either abolish all academical titles, or invent new ones to ex- 
press our peculiar ideas. But if we retain the same old titles, 
why should we not, as far as our circumstances permit, main- 



15 

tain anions our decrees the same relative value which has 
always been preserved among- European degrees of similar 
titles ? "We have here to-day, by conferring the degree of 
Bachelor in Divinity on a clergyman of our diocese, of matured 
abilities and excellent attainments in Theology, endeavored to 
recognize the degree in its true old meaning. The only B.D. 
we have ever conferred here before has been worn for several 
years by the able Professor in our General Theological Semin- 
ary; whom you have just heard entitled "Doctor," as he has 
been "Teacher" in Theology for years past. 

It does not become us yet, perhaps, to say much on this 
point on the worth of college titles. But we desire to declare 
our purpose to do what we can to make them real, and there- 
fore valuable. They may be forms, and no more, anywhere. 
They are often such — merely such — east as well as west of the 
Atlantic. That they have been thus gravely spoken of now, 
is not, we hope, the only proof we have given that we desire 
to make them respectable. 

They impose duties, Gentlemen — the Alumni here present : 
or rather, they recognize duties. Your duties, I mean, as 
having fairly begun your own education, to demean yourselves 
worthily, and to pursue truth zealously ; and so to become in 
due time Magistri, Doctor es — the Teachers of others. This 
rests in some shape as a duty on every one, be his calling what 
it may. To that duty, we desire to ask and receive the pledge 
of all who here receive academical rank and name. With this 
there comes to you the office and duty to teach as you have 
been taught. As you have been taught, I trust I may say, so 
far as regards sincerity and fidelity of purpose. In all else 
may you far surpass us. May you so live, and learn and teach, 
that the preceptors of your youth may not only glory in your 
maturity, but also — God grant it ' — find encouragement and 
incitement in your examples. 



* 



&l)e Clatter 



COLLEGE OF ST. JAMES 



AN ACT to incorporate a Literary Institution in Washington County, 
under the name of u The College of St. James. v 

Be it enacted, by the General Assembly of Maryland, That Frederick 
Dorsey, Thomas Buchanan, John R. Dall, William Eollinson Whittingham 
Theodore B. Lyman, John B. Kerfoot, Reuben Riley, Russell Trevett, 
Dwight E. Lyman, and their successors, being members and attached to 
the Protestant Episcopal Church in Maryland, shall be, and they are 
hereby constituted a corporation or body politic, by the name of "The 
Trustees of the College of St. James ; ;; and by that name shall have per- 
petual succession, and may sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, 
and may purchase and hold property, whether acquired by purchase, gift 
or devise, and whether real, or personal, or mixed, and may make and 
have a corporate seal, and the same break and alter at their pleasure ; and 
shall have all other rights belonging to similar corporations by the laws of 
this State. 

§ 2. And be it enacted, That the object of said association is hereby de- 
clared to be the promotion of Christian and liberal education. 

$ 3. And be it enacted, That the entire management of the affairs and 
concerns of the said Corporation and College, and all the corporate powers 
hereby granted, shall be and are hereby vested in a board of nine trustees, 
resident within the State ; the persons named in the first section of this 
Act shall be the first Trustees. 

$ 4. And be it enacted, That the majority of the Trustees shall have 
power, from time to time, to enact by-laws for the regulation and manage- 
ment of the affairs and concerns of the said Corporation and College ; for 
fdling up vacancies in the Board, occasioned by death, resignation, re- 



17 

moval from the State, or otherwise, as may be provided for by the by- 
laws, and also to prescribe the number and description, duties and powers 
of the officers, the manner of their election and the term of their offices. 

§ 5. And be it enacted, That for the purpose of carrying out the object 
declared in the second section of this Act, or for any purpose connected 
therewith, the said Corporation shall have power from time to time to 
purchase, take, and hold real and personal estate, and to sell, lease, and 
dispose of the same ; provided the net annual value thereof shall not ex- 
ceed fifteen thousand dollars. 

§ 6. And be it enacted, That the said Corporation shall have and pos- 
sess the right and power of conferring the usual academical degrees. 

$ 7. And be it enacted, That this charter shall be revokable at any time 
hereafter, by the Legislature of this State. 

$ 8. And be it enacted, That the Trustees and Faculty of said College 
shall make a yearly report of the state of the institution to the Governor 
of the State, to be by him laid before the Legislature. 

ft 
We hereby certify, that the aforegoing is a true copy 
of the original law which passed both branches of the 
Legislature of Maryland at December session, 1843. 

Given under our hands at the city of Annapolis, this 29th day of 
February, 1844. 

GEORGE G. BREWER, 

CVh House Del, Md. 

JOS. H. NICHOLSON, 

CVh Senate, Md. 



&[)e tasteto of tl)e College of St. 3ome0. 



Bate of Appointment, $c. 

Frederick Dorsey, M. D., 

Hon. Thomas Buchanan. 

John R. Dall, Esq* 

Rt. Rev. W. R. Whittingham, D. D., 

Rev. Theodore B. Lyman, \ & 

Rev. John B. Keribot, D. D., 

Rev. Reuben Riley, 

Rev. Russell Trevett, 

Rev. D wight E. Lyman, 



Resignation, <$-c. 

..Resigned, 1844. 
.. " 1845. 

..Resigned. 1845. 

..Resigned, 1845. 

.. Resigned, 1848. 

Hon. John Buchanan, Elected, 1844 Died, 1844. 

William G. Harrison, Esq., " 1845 

Rev. Joseph C. Passmore. " 1845 



o 



J. Mason Campbell, Esq.,.. . 
George W. Coakley, LL. D. 
Rev. William G. Jackson, . . 
Rev. Julius M. Dashiell, 



1846 

1848 

1850 Resigned, 1854. 

1854 



<6 x t x a 1 t 



FROM THE 



STATUTES OF THE COLLEGE OF ST. JAMES,* 



Statute 10. — Of Degrees in Arts and in the other Faculties. 

Section 1. — The Degrees of Bachelor and of Master in Arts shall 
be conferred as follows : — 

A. The degree of B. A., in course, shall be given to Students of this College, 

who, having successfully completed the course of studies prescribed 
by the academical authorities of the College, and approved by the 
Bishop, as Visitor, shall undergo satisfactory examinations in those 
studies, and thereupon be duly recommended to the Trustees, by the 
Rector and the Faculty, as entitled to said degree. 

B. The degree of M. A. shall be given, in course, to ail such Alumni of this 

College, who, being Bachelors of three years' standing, shall, on or 
before the 1st day of July, make application to the Rector for their 
next degree, presenting satisfactory certificates from competent per- 
sons that they have during the said three years been engaged in 

„ * The College of St. James has a body of statutes adopted several years 
since, twelve in number. In most points they were the embodiment of our 
previous experience and customs ; and the whole code is now undergoing 
the fuller test of actual use for some years. When they shall have been 
thus finally amended and approved, the statutes are to be published entire. 
In the meantime it is thought expedient, as well as appropriate in this pamphlet, 
to publish here the Tenth Statute, entitled " Of Degrees,'" &c, the provisions of 
which have always been strictly regarded in conferring degrees. 



20 



literary, scientific, or professional studies, and that they are of up- 
right moral character. Every such applicant shall also submit, by 
the day before named, to the Rector and Faculty, a Thesis prepared 
by himself. It shall, thereupon, be the duty of the Faculty to 
examine such certificates and Thesis; and if they approve of the 
candidate, to present his testimonials and their request in his behalf 
to the Trustees, for their action. 



C. Any one not having pursued his studies in this College, who shall 
apply, or for whom application shall be made, on or before the 1st day 
of May, in any year, for the degree of B. A., shall present certificates of 
upright moral character, and shall be examined in the prescribed 
Collegiate Studies by the Faculty, or by examiners named by them, 
and shall submit to the Rector and the Faculty a Thesis prepared 
"by himself. If satisfactory proofs shall thus be given to the Rector 
and the Faculty of sufficient literary and other qualifications on the 
part of the candidate, they may recommend him to the Trustees, as 
nrovided in the case of the regular Alumni of the College. 



D. Such Bachelors in Arts may also be admitted to their next degree on 

complying with the terms prescribed in clause B. of this section of 
this statute, to Alumni asking for their Master's degree. 

E. In the case of Bachelors of Arts of other colleges applying to this 

College for the degree of Master in Arts, besides the testimonials 
before required (clause B., sec. 1 of this statute), two original Theses 
shall be submitted, one of which shall be on a subject prescribed by 
the Rector and Faculty. 

F. It shall be the duty of the Faculty to designate one or more of the 

applicants, in any year, for the degree of M. A., to perform in person 
the exercise or exercises for said degree before the Visitor and 
Faculty, or in such mode as shall at any. time be prescribed. 

Gr. The degree of M. A., honoris ergo, may be conferred on those whom, 
for special cause and on full proofs of due qualifications, explicitly 
stated to the Trustees, the Rector and Faculty shall recommend for 
said degree, provided that the name of the candidate shall have been 
entered for such a degree on the records of the Faculty on or before 
the 1st day of May preceding. 



21 



Section 2. — Of Degrees in other Faculties, except Divinity. 

Degrees in the oilier Faculties, not before provided for, and excepting also 
Divinity, may be conferred on those in whose behalf the Rector and 
Faculty make application to the Trustees. 

Provided, first, that the name of the candidate for any such degree, 
which degree must be duly specified, shall have been entered on the records 
of the Faculty on or before the 1st day of May; and, second, that every 
Trustee be, without needless delay, informed that such a degree is to be 
proposed; and further provided, third, that the Rector and Faculty in their 
application exhibit proofs from the testimonials of other competent judges, 
or from their own knowledge of the candidate, that he is specially quali- 
fied for said degree. 

Section 3. 

All degrees in the Arts and in the other Faculties, excepting Divinity, 
when decreed by the Trustees, shall be conferred at the Annual Com- 
mencement by the Rector of the College. 

Section 4. — Of Degrees in Divinity. 

A. Degrees in Divinity may be conferred at the request and on the re- 

commendation of the Rector and the clerical members of the Faculty, 
who shall state in their application to the Trustees the special qualifi- 
cations of the candidate for the proposed degree, and the proofs of 
such qualifications ; provided, first, that the purpose to ask such a 
degree for the candidate shall have been entered on the records of 
the Faculty on or before the 1 st day of May of that year ; and provi ded 
further, second, that this application of the Rector and the clerical 
members of the Faculty be accompanied by the written certificate of 
the Bishop, as Visitor of the College, that he approves and concurs in 
such application. 

B. All degrees in Divinity, when thus decreed by the Trustees, shall be 

conferred by the Bishop, or by the Rector of the College, acting in his 
name and by his commission for that purpose. 

Section 5. 

Nothing in this statute is to be understood as designed by the Trustees 
to vacate or transfer any of their powers or duties, as set forth in the Gth 
section of the Act of their Incorporation, passed by the General Assem- 
bly of Maryland. 



DEGREES CONFERRED. 



18 44. 
M. A. 

Rev. Libertus Van Bokkelen, 1 A]mnni rf gfc pauPg 0oU New . Yor k. 
James Kip Anderson, ) 

Rev. Adolph Frost, (honoris ergo). 

B. A. 

Edward Henry Delafield, Alumnus of St. Paul's College. 
18 4 5. 

M. A. 

Joseph C. Passmore, ~j 

Robert S. Howland, 
John G. Barton, 
MiloMahan, 
George L. Pollard, 
Edward Henry DeJalield, 

184 6. 

B. A. 

Cornelius Edwin Swope, 
George Calvert Morris. 

1848. 

B. A. 

Julius Matthias Dashiell, 
Frederick Gibson, 
Daniel Randall Hagner, 
John Pyne. 

18 4 9. 

B. A. M. A. 

Thomas Fell Johnson, Cornelius E. Swope. 

Henry Byrd Latrobe, George C. Morris. 

Thomas Harwood Perine, 
Edward Thomas Whittinsrham. 



L.of C. 





23 


. =* 




18 5 0. 






B. A. 




William Davidson Burkhardt, 


James C. 


Kinear. 
18 5 1 




B. A. 




M. A. 


Frederick Lynn Childs, 




Julius M. Dashiell, 


Daniel Clarke, 




Frederick Gibson, 


Joseph Hovvland Coit, 




Daniel R. Hagner, M. D., 


Edward Augustus Colburn, 




John Pyne. 


George Adolphus Hanson, 






Edward Graham Haywood 






M. Simms V. Heard, 






John Skinner, 






Certificate of a Literary and Scientific 




Course. 






William Henry Thompson. 


LL.D, 




Hugh Davey Evans, Esq., 


John Henry Alexander, Esq. 


B. D. 




D. D. 


Rev. Milo Mahan. 


18 5 2 


Rev. William Adams. 


B. A. 




M. A. 


Edward Williamson Belt, 




Thomas F. Johnson. 


Bernard Carter, 




T. Harwood Perine, 


Sydney Sewall Jones, 




Edward T. Whittingham, M. D., 


Charles Wheaton. 




Rev. John W. Nott, 
(Honoris ergo, ) 


t 


Lli. D. 


Henry A. Coit, 
George W. Hunter. 


Hon. James Alfred Pearce. 




18 5 3 




B. A. 




M. A. 


Hurley Baldy. 




William D. Burkhardt. M. D., 


William Morgan Barber. 




James C. Kinear, 


J. James Robertson Croes, 




(Ad eundem,) 


John Gadsden, 




Rev. C. M. Parkman, 


Henry Rogers Pyne, 




Of Harvard University. 


John E. F. Shaw, 






Tazewell Thompson, 






(Certificate, &c, &c.) 






Frederick Dorsey. 







24 



B. D, 



(Ad eundem,) 
Rev. Edmund Hobhouse, 

Of Merton College, Oxford. 



18 54. 



B. A. 



John Thorne Clarkson, 
Samuel Joseph Donaldson, 
Hall Harrison, 
Francis Marion Mclver, 
William Emery Merrill, 
Thomas Harrison Oliver 
Henry Augustus Skinner, 
John Witherspoon Williams, 
Charles Handfield Wyatt, 

(Certificate, &c.) 

John Howell Williams. 



B. £>. 

Rev. Cleland K. Nelson, 



M. A. 

Frederick L. Childs, 
' Daniel Clarke, LL. B., 
Rev. Joseph H. Coit, 
Rev. Edward A. Colburn, 
George A. Hanson, 
Edward G. Haywood, 
M. S. V. Heard, 

(Honoris ergo.) 
Herman Vestris, 
Francis Lloyd, M. D. 

{Ad eundem,) 
Lewis H.Steiner, M. D., 

(Of Marshall College, Penn.) 
D. D. 

Rev. Milo Mahan, B. D. 



f 



L 



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LIBRARY OF CONGkT^S 



028 316 080 4 • 



